This book sets out, like the others in this series, to allow the artist's character and his aims and intentions to speak for themselves through his writings and reported sayings and to show his artistic development in essentially visual terms, by the juxtaposition of significant works. By not clinging to the familiar repertory - although all the acknowledged masterpieces are there in force - the book demonstrates the great diversity of Manet's art and reveals him as the boldest of the avant-garde artists of his time. Besides charting the remarkable progress of his art the book also reveals the visual wit and charm that so closely parallel the character of the man himself and that are reflected in his lively informal correspondence. Juliet Wilson-Barreau is an art historian specializing in late 19th-century French art. She also devised The Hidden Face of Manet an exhibition shown at the Courtauld Galleries in 1986.